Share this article

A man has been fined for threatening to blow up Swiss broadcaster SRF after the television programme he intended to watch didn't air on time.

The incident dates from last February when the 54-year-old from Uster, in the canton of Zurich, was getting ready to watch a programme on television at around 11pm, according to a court judgement reported by daily 20 Minuten on Friday.

When the programme failed to air and adverts continued instead, he became increasingly angry.

At around midnight he telephoned SRF and left an irate message on its answerphone.

“Why are you showing adverts when the programme is already late? I think I'm going to blow up a bomb in your shitty studio,” he said.

Two minutes later he called again, telling the broadcaster to watch out if they run any programmes late the next day.

After hearing the messages, SRF took the bomb threat seriously and called the police. The man was arrested the next day.

His angry phone calls have now cost him a 2,250 francs fine, suspended for two years, plus 1,000 francs in court fees, under the court ruling made public on Thursday.

According to 20 Minuten, the programme the man so wanted to watch was ‘Hock hinaus – das Expeditionsteam', a sort of TV talent show for mountaineers in which the Swiss Alpine Club searches for talented young alpinists.